Silence
by Vixkill
Summary: Written spontaneously with Naruto world in mind, this is supposed to grow into an OC. Rating for safety and if consecutive chapters head the way I'd like ...violently. Not really any more violence yet, but there's some Action, and cursing.
1. Chapter 1

The nighttime sky was illuminated from the fires still raging in the village below. Amongst the smoldering, broken buildings, a captain dropped to his knee, head lowered.

"Master, the last of the resisting forces have been eliminated. Our men are collecting the survivors."

A tall man, face shrouded in his cloak, received the report. "Very good. Be sure to search the village thoroughly; do not miss any survivors. He will probably want every…"

"You." Both men turned towards the interruption.

A child, covered in soot, dragged them self from a doorway. "You!" The child repeats, their harsh voice gaining in strength. "You are responsible for this! You coordinated this attack on my village!" The child screamed, the rage in their eyes burning away all tears, "You will pay! The depths of hell wil… urk!"

The tall man was suddenly there, holding the child by their throat.

"A noisy one, aren't you?" he said, gently. The child didn't struggle, choosing instead to snarl at him.

The man smiled. "Well then, let's fix that."

His hand around the child's neck started glowing. The child started to struggle, trying to cry out, tears of pain making tracks down their face. The child's eyes rolled back.

"Put it in with the rest." The tall man ordered, throwing the child at the captain. "He's never been picky about his subjects."


	2. Chapter 2

--- Years later ---

An old, balding man fumed and struggled to retain his focus on the task at hand. Flickering candles barley illuminated the room.

"_Damn him!" _The old man thought, his features further distorted by flickering chakra as he moulded it to his will.

_"Telling me that all of my subjects were inadequate _just_ because they still screamed. Hmph. And I'd put so much work into my technique, getting them to do reports. He should have said he didn't need it! And he needn't have neglected them that much after deciding he didn't want them! It would have been that much simpler if the remaining had been strong enough to survive the additional procedure."_ He smiled the type of smile evil scientists spend years mastering.

_"But that won't matter anymore, no! If he kills this one my work won't be lost! Hahahaha." _Thinking of his own brilliance, he started cackling quietly, then just as suddenly frowned.

"_If he hadn't set me this _deadline_ it could have been complete, but no! I had to use this subject just because he's impatient. They'll need work if he wants them to be quiet like this one." _

So focused on his own problems, he didn't notice the unusual noises outside his door.


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi and his team of Genin had been sent on a B-C ranked mission nearing the border of the Fire territory. A band of raiders had repeatedly struck homesteads and a small township in the area. While no one had yet been killed, the locals had banded together to pay for Konoha to take care of the threat, and to recover some stolen goods.

Over the last three hours team seven had been watching the outlaws' base. Having seen no opponents that may be a problem, and Naruto getting impatient, Kakashi decided that they would strike at night in a stealthy manner to avoid direct confrontation.

"But why can't we just call them all out and beat them up!" Naruto whined. "I bet I could take them all out at once, no sweat!"

"Naruto," Kakashi admonished him, "Sometimes as a ninja you will have to enter a dangerous situation where such an action would get you and your team killed." His eye curved in a smile. "However, this is not one of those situations. But it's good practice."

Soon after sunset they split up, each succeeded in silently making their own way through the house, knocking out every thug they came across. Sasuke and Naruto eventually met on one side of the house.

"Hey Sasuke, I've taken out five guys so far, how many did you get?" Naruto asked, amicably.

"Seven." Sasuke replied, not even looking at Naruto.

_"rrrrrrrgh!"_ Naruto got steamed at this. _"I'll catch up to him! I know I can!"_ he thought. Naruto got his chance at the main hallway joining the two halves of the house together.

"Watch this," he said to Sasuke, pointing half way down the hall at two guys who he'd just spotted that were standing in front of a door. One was reading a book (icha-icha series!), and the other looked like he'd managed to fall asleep standing up.

Kakashi had met with Sakura on the other side of the house. They were peeking down the same hallway past the inattentive guards and had seen Naruto show up.

"That Naruto," whispered Sakura, "what does he think he's going to do? He can't sneak up on those guards out here in the hallway."

Kakashi just waited.

_Bang!_ A Smoke bomb went off engulfing one of the guards.

"Reh?!" Exclaimed the other guard, waking up, as a striking noise emanated from the cloud. That was all he had time to do before Naruto, yelling, launched himself at the remaining guy and they both went crashing through the wall, next to the door.

The dust cleared with Naruto sitting on the guards back and smiling idiotically.

"Naruto! This was supposed to be a stealth mission," Sakura lectured as she poked her head around the hole. "Uh…"


	4. Chapter 4

"What the hell!" The old, balding man swore at them from the far side if the room from behind a sealing circle that surrounded a still figure. "How did you kids get past those guards and my… seals…?" He trailed off, pointing at the unused door that had been plastered with strange seals on the inside.

"Damn it! You're too lucky!" He exclaimed, visibly enraged. "And this subject was almost ready. But you won't get me or my research!" The strange self-obsessed man threw a kunai at the door, but it was intercepted by another kunai. The old man met Kakashis' one-eyed gaze, "It will take more than that for you to stop me!" he sneered and started making hand-seals.

Naruto had been stupidly just sitting there throughout the exchange, but at least he'd finally decided get off of the guard.

"Stay back." Kakashi ordered as he threw Sakura and Sasuke back down the hall before he leapt through the hole in the wall just as the old man had finished his jutsu.

"Light technique!"

Naruto and Kakashi were blinded by a huge burst of light; both were forced to cover their eyes. "Naruto! Kakashi-sensi!" Sakura cried as she and Sasuke shielded themselves from the irradiating light.

Kakashi heard kunai being thrown, but blinded he was only able to knock two of what turned out to be three knives from their course. "Kuso!" He swore, hearing tags fizzle.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto opened his sore eyes to see rain falling through the darkened branches of the tree above him. His head was pounding.

"Naruto, you're awake! Are you ok?" Sakura asked from beside him.

"Sakura-chan!" He replied, carefully sitting up and grinning at her. They were sitting in the clearing in front of the outlaws' base. "Yeah, I'll be alright. What the heck happened? The last thing I remember was a big flash…"

Sakura looked towards the house, dawn was fast approaching. "The old man set off his booby-traps and used them to escape. Sasuke-kun and I didn't get hurt, but you and Kakashi-sensi were trapped in that room where the blast was centered. Kakashi-sensi wasn't badly hit, but most of the room had collapsed and he had to put the fires out first, so it took us a while to find you." Sakura paused, still staring at the house. "You're lucky you weren't more seriously injured, Naruto." Naruto thought that there were undercurrents of worry in Sakura's slightly exasperated explanation, but he couldn't see her eyes.

Sakura pointed to a pile of tied-up thugs. "Sasuke's been helping Kakashi to round them all up. Oh look, here they come." Kakashi and Sasuke had emerged from the house. Sasuke was looking more sour than usual because the rain was dripping down the back of his neck, not to mention him having to help lug all the (filthy) bandits outside. Kakashi dumped a thug next to the pile and left Sasuke to tie the smelly things up.

"Ah, Naruto. I'm glad to see you're awake." Kakashi greeted him, walking over. _You wouldn't think that he'd just survived an explosion to look at him_, thought Naruto. Well, maybe his hair was standing up more than usual. And he did have a bandage on his hand.

"Sakura-chan, how is our other patient doing?" Kakashi asked.

"Other patient?" Queried Naruto. He turned around slightly and was surprised to see a black-clad figure lying down near him. They looked familiar. "Is that…?" Sakura had finished her brief report and so Naruto had caught Kakashi's attention.

"Hn? Oh, that's the old man's 'subject'. She's alive."


End file.
